Some love for the Persistence
Posted: Sat Aug 30, 2025 8:32 am
Long time Spyderco enjoyer here, but my first post on the forum.
My Spyderco journey began over a decade ago with the purchase of an Ambitious (mainly because it was the cheapest Spyderco I could find at the time). I carried that knife almost exclusively for over a year and it served me well, although I frequently found myself wishing for a bit more knife. This led to the purchase of a Tenacious which also did great service for several years.
Coming from a background of using mainly SAKs and a Puma Cadet which was a birthday gift from my Dad nearly 40 years ago, the 8Cr steel never bothered me. That said, as my interest in knives grew and I read about the modern powder metallurgy steels, I embarked on a (rather wallet unfriendly) foray into the higher end Spyderco models. But I never forgot the tremendous utility of the Ambitious and Tenacious for very little outlay.
These days I have less need for larger knives (although I still buy them because… erm… shiny), so I mainly carry a UKPK / Urban or a Para 3 LW (daft UK knife laws permitting). Having previously skipped the Persistence as not big enough, when I saw one recently in S35VN for a good price I snapped it up. Well, I couldn’t be more pleased with the purchase. It fits my medium sized hands perfectly, it’s more compact than the Para 3 despite having a slightly longer cutting edge and I never feel that it isn’t up to the job.
While I know that the “value” folders can’t really be considered budget options in S35VN, I still think they compare well to offerings from other manufacturers. My Persistence has a slightly uneven grind, but that doesn’t affect the performance and I’m not afraid of using / losing it the way I am with my more expensive knives (the mint condition GB1 I picked up is a definite safe Queen). It also isn’t scary to non-knife people and will often pique their curiosity because they’ve never seen a knife like it.
Credit to the Glessers and the rest of the team at Spyderco for bringing us such innovative products, at prices which I think are fair given the R&D and production costs of dealing with so many steels which other companies won’t even attempt to use.
When asked by friends what knife they should get, some form of Spyderco is nearly always my recommendation. They’ve earned a lifelong customer in me. :)
My Spyderco journey began over a decade ago with the purchase of an Ambitious (mainly because it was the cheapest Spyderco I could find at the time). I carried that knife almost exclusively for over a year and it served me well, although I frequently found myself wishing for a bit more knife. This led to the purchase of a Tenacious which also did great service for several years.
Coming from a background of using mainly SAKs and a Puma Cadet which was a birthday gift from my Dad nearly 40 years ago, the 8Cr steel never bothered me. That said, as my interest in knives grew and I read about the modern powder metallurgy steels, I embarked on a (rather wallet unfriendly) foray into the higher end Spyderco models. But I never forgot the tremendous utility of the Ambitious and Tenacious for very little outlay.
These days I have less need for larger knives (although I still buy them because… erm… shiny), so I mainly carry a UKPK / Urban or a Para 3 LW (daft UK knife laws permitting). Having previously skipped the Persistence as not big enough, when I saw one recently in S35VN for a good price I snapped it up. Well, I couldn’t be more pleased with the purchase. It fits my medium sized hands perfectly, it’s more compact than the Para 3 despite having a slightly longer cutting edge and I never feel that it isn’t up to the job.
While I know that the “value” folders can’t really be considered budget options in S35VN, I still think they compare well to offerings from other manufacturers. My Persistence has a slightly uneven grind, but that doesn’t affect the performance and I’m not afraid of using / losing it the way I am with my more expensive knives (the mint condition GB1 I picked up is a definite safe Queen). It also isn’t scary to non-knife people and will often pique their curiosity because they’ve never seen a knife like it.
Credit to the Glessers and the rest of the team at Spyderco for bringing us such innovative products, at prices which I think are fair given the R&D and production costs of dealing with so many steels which other companies won’t even attempt to use.
When asked by friends what knife they should get, some form of Spyderco is nearly always my recommendation. They’ve earned a lifelong customer in me. :)